A new trend in welfare reform is the reliance
on social psychology tosupport a regulatory approach. Groups like Vegan
Outreach and FarmSanctuary draw on social psychology theory to make it
appear as ifthey are grounding their stances and actions in scientific
research.But, in actuality, they are pulling on research to support what
theyalready do. It's no surprise then, that welfare reform is not
achieving any meaningful change despite foundations in several decadesof
social psychological research. This is an unfortunate waste of atruly
valuable tool. Social psychology does have much to say in how wemight
effectively advocate, but welfare organizations only twist thefindings
to support their favored (but failing) tactics.